How to Write a Resume that Sells (and a Personal Marketing Plan)

for the job-seeker or for applicants to business school by David Teten

Copyright 2009, David Teten ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reproduction of ANY portion of this article is NOT PERMITTED without the express, written consent of David Teten. This means that YOU or YOUR COMPANY cannot copy and paste this Intellectual Property (IP) information onto your Web site, or republish it in any other form, offline or online (electronic), without the express, written consent of David Teten. If you wish to purchase the IP licensing or syndication rights, please contact David Teten via www.Teten.com.

David Teten, CEO of Teten Advisors (Teten.com), is an investment banker for private equity and venture capital funds and a serial entrepreneur. Teten Advisors specializes in advising private equity and venture capital funds on accelerating deal flow, portfolio company executive optimization, and due diligence. David was most recently a Managing Director with Evalueserve, a global financial research and analytics company. Founded in 2000, Evalueserve has over 2,500 employees. Among its 1,100 clients are 6 of the top 10 investment banks and 10 of the top 15 strategy consulting firms. David was previously Founder and CEO of Circle of Experts, an investment research firm acquired by Evalueserve. David was formerly Founder and CEO of Teten Recruiting, an executive recruiting firm specializing in serving the hedge fund, private equity, investment banking, and strategy consulting industries. Accolo, #42 on the Inc. 500 list, acquired Teten Recruiting. He was also formerly Founder and CEO of an investment bank focusing on serving the internet domain name asset class, which he built to 450 customers. He worked with Bear Stearns' Investment Banking division as a member of their technology/defense mergers and acquisitions team, and was a strategy consultant with Mars & Co. David holds a Harvard MBA and a Yale BA, both with honors. David is a frequent keynote speaker to technology and finance conferences. He has twice received the highest ratings of any speaker at a conference. He is the lead author of The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors and Closing Deals Online. David sits on the Advisory Boards of Accolo, Grouply, and the Word of Mouth Marketing Association.

How to Write a White-Hot Resume and Personal Marketing Plan

David Teten

How to Write a White-Hot Resume

Selling yourself to an employer or graduate school is like selling a car in a magazine advertisement; you have very little space to tell an exciting story to your reader. How can you make the case that you are a must-see candidate? While earning my MBA, I worked part-time as a resume editor for the schools office of Career Services. During that time, I developed the five-step process below. I. Determine what industries and positions you are interested in.

If you do not know where youre going, then you certainly wont get there. II. Develop a list of the characteristics that your readers are looking for in their applicants.

Ideally, you will appear to be precisely the sort of individual that your reader is seeking. III. Write the document to highlight specific accomplishments that provide evidence of the reader's desired characteristics. In discussing your accomplishments, it is often helpful to keep the following three questions in mind: (A) Problem: What was the challenge? (B) Action: How did you overcome it? (C) Resolution: What were the specific results of your action? Below is an example of steps II and III: a list of some common characteristics which recruiters may look for, along with suggestions on how to demonstrate that you possess those characteristics. While these characteristics are common, they may not apply to your particular search. These are listed, very roughly, in descending order of importance.1 I have included sample text from real resumes of candidates with whom I have worked.

Harvard Business School uses a similar list in its admissions brochure, and judges its applicants in part based on that list. Following is a list of the desired characteristics and capabilities of Harvard Business School graduates, according to page 1 of the 1996 Harvard MBA Program brochure: Values and Qualities: Ethical Commitment, Commitment to Continuous Personal Improvement, Self-Esteem, and Orientation to Action Skills: Creative Problem Solving, Rigorous Reasoning, Problem Solving, Synthesis, Communication and Negotiation, Teamwork and Collaboration, Entrepreneurship, and Leadership Page 2 of 10

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To demonstrate this characterhere are some suggestions for supporting it in your resume. istic Unquestioned Community service. Military experience. Security clearance. Graduate Navys Commanding Officers School US DOE/DOD (high integrity level security clearances) Interpersonal/ teamwork skills Sales skills Participation in team sports. Mention of club/community activities (e.g., nonprofit organizations). Track record of successful salesmanship, fundraising, marketing, etc. Personally raised $500,000 from 35 alumni donors. Founder and head, computer consultancy (35 clients, 110 consultants). President, advertising agency (50 clients, 10 employees). Track record of great success in at least one field. Continuing education (e.g., taking an accounting class while working full time). Record of steady promotion. #1 college marathoner in Connecticut, 1990-94. LEVER BROTHERS COMPANY, New York, NY 1975 1976 and 1969 1971 Assistant Product Group Manager (1975-1976), Asst. Product Manager (19701971), Territory Sales Rep (1969) Leadership of student clubs. Quantification of the number of people you have managed. "Recruited, hired, trained and managed 10 staff members." Directed all company functions of $56M, 500-employee HVAC products manufacturer, marketing to hardware retailers, HVAC and plumbing wholesalers, commercial/industrial boiler engineers, and roofing dealers. High grades. Success in multiple disciplines. Harvard MBA. Second Year Honors. Received highest possible grade (1) in over 50% of classes. Columbia BA, Economics and Psychology (double major). Awards included: Distinction in Psychology; McLaughlin Essay Prize; State Farm Fellowship. Membership in industry associations, school alumni groups, ethnic groups, religious groups, etc. World Affairs Council; Foreign Research Institute; Eastern Technology

Ambition/com mitment to continuous personal improvement

Leadership/ management skills

Intelligence

Networking skills

Knowledge: General Management, Functional Expertise, Global Understanding, and Understanding of Technology Page 3 of 10

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Council; Wharton Alumni Association; Board Member-YMCA; Member Turnaround Management Association; International Executives Group (IERG) Boardroom presence Communicati on skills Quantitative skills Frequent meetings with and presentations to senior officers at firms. Published writings. Public speaking or debate experience. Writing awards. Math major. High grades in quantitative subjects. High GMAT. Quantification of results achieved in your positions. Raised profits from $50,000 to $150,000 in just one year. MBA Finance & Strategy, The Wharton School, The University of Pennsylvania; M.S. Engineering Physics, The University of Virginia; B.S. Physics, Niagara University Multiple simultaneous leadership roles while attending school. Multiple job responsibilities.

Multi-tasking ability and an ability to think on ones feet Willingness to work hard

Experience working with tight deadlines. A spokesperson for the corporation: developing and communicating key corporate messages accurately and convincingly, under deadline pressure, to multiple audiences including investors, financial/business journalists (online and offline) globally, employees and customers Experience in the industry. Trade association membership. Published writings on the industry. Supplier conference at FPL The Changing Definition of Supply Chain Southeastern Electric Exchange Conference Collaborative Supply Chain- A Business Model i2 Planet Conference Multiple Industry Solution Demonstration-An Integrated Supply Chain Theater experience. Interesting hobbies. Something on the resume to make you more human and approachable, not someone who is focused 100% on business. Position as webmaster of a club. Maintenance of a personal website. Built complex models for merger, debt and equity issuance, and leveraged buy-out options. Entrepreneurship. Independent foreign travel. Experience in diverse cultures and industries. Page 4 of 10

Industry knowledge

Personality, humanity

Comfort with technology

Comfort with unstructured

How to Write a White-Hot Resume and Personal Marketing Plan

David Teten

environment/ adaptability Desire to give Volunteering in a nonprofit. Operated a consulting company while attending an MBA program at the back Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Conducted Global client engagements in the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Austria, Canada, and Eastern Europe. Concurrently, taught three courses at the Wharton School: Entrepreneurship, Venture Acquisition, and Leadership Fundamentals. Acted as advisor to the Schools Dean, students, and the Recanati Program staff in Whartons Marketing Department.

IV. Write the document to highlight specific accomplishments that provide evidence of the reader's desired areas of experience. Following is a list of some of the major areas in which readers may look for experience, along with suggestions on how to demonstrate that you understand those areas.2

To demonstrate this expertise... Interpersonal and Management skills

here are some suggestions for supporting it in your document.

Participation in team sports. Mention of club/community activities (e.g., section positions). A focus on the interpersonal aspects of your job. Mentored 5 programmer/analysts to project-manager level in 2 years. Drove synergy across operating companies: Initiated joint quotation activity to capitalize on different strengths of operating units to serve business unavailable to any single company within group. Established group-level sales/marketing function. Brought in new business, customers from other operating group. Financial language, even for non-financial jobs. Boosted operating margins from 10% to 14% in division. Reduced inventory turns from 150 days to 79 days. With a $2,000 PR budget, gained highly favorable coverage in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Red Herring, Tornado-Insider, Internet.com, and other leading publications in nine countries. Mention of negotiating experience. "Negotiated $50M+ contracts with four Fortune 500 customers." Writing that indicates you think in terms of process improvement.

Finance

Negotiations

Technology &
2

This list is based on the 1997 Harvard Business School first-year curriculum, which subsumes almost all of the major areas of business management. Page 5 of 10

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Operations Management

"Reengineered workflow to speed preparation of marketing materials from 51 days to 20 days." Established quality programs that reduced Defects Per Million from 3500 to under 1000. Drove programs that reduced overhead costs per direct labor hour from $160.00 to under $70.00. Experience in selling or fundraising. Sold companys services to 55 diverse customers, achieving 120% annual sales growth. Raised $50,000 from alumni worldwide. Communicated on the companys behalf with media, resulting in highprofile articles appearing in Forbes, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Financial Times, as well as broadcast coverage on Bloomberg News and CNN Competitive intelligence-gathering. "Researched competition and consequently positioned $1M new product to exploit competition's weaknesses." Positioned facility for rapid re-opening upon economic recovery. (Shows that the writer is planning ahead for changing circumstances.) Travel. Fluency in multiple languages. Work experience in multiple locations. Multiple citizenships. Lived and worked in Israel, Brazil, France, and Taiwan. Legal citizenship in USA, Israel, and France. Speak Advanced Hebrew. Intermediate French.

Marketing

Competition and Strategy

Politics, Macroeconomics and International Relations

V.

Finally, double-check your format against the format desired by your reader. For example, make sure that you have included all the desired information, met all length limits, and answered all questions that are likely to be asked. Incidentally, standard Harvard Business School format prohibits most italics. Resumes are often faxed, and italics smear on faxes.

Following are a few key general principles to keep in mind when writing resumes and other personal marketing documents.

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How to Write a White-Hot Resume and Personal Marketing Plan

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1) 2)

Be thoughtful about the reader you are targeting and structure your marketing document accordingly. It is generally wise to include a permanent address (e.g., your parents address). The average American moves every 7 years; it is to your benefit to help your reader find you in case you move. I also strongly recommend you get a permanent email address (ideally from your university), rather than using an Internet Service Provider (ISP) email address (e.g., name@aol.com, name@verizon.net). Using an ISP email address locks you in to that ISP, and makes you difficult to reach should you switch ISPs. Better yet, register your family name at namebargain.com (e.g., teten.com) and get your own email address (e.g., david@teten.com). Be aware of and fight the prejudices that operate against you. For example, if you have a non-quantitative college major, readers will often assume that you are not good at quantitative thinking. You will benefit by articulating why your reader should not make that assumption. Similarly, if you grew up in a non-anglophone country, readers will often assume that your English is not truly fluent. You will benefit by mentioning that you have "native fluency in English" (assuming that is the truth). You can prove your fluency by talking about your frequent presentations in front of large audiences. Quantify your achievements. "Completed equity offering for $2B pharmaceutical company." "Turned around under-performing operating company: moved rapidly to restructure management team, reduce headcount, reduce inventories 37% and receivables (days sales outstanding dropped from 46 to 40). Do not include hyperbole. Do not take the risk of weakening your entire document's credibility by including claims that are not credible. Tell the truth and only the truth. Use boldfacing, underlining, and occasionally a box in order to guide the readers eye to the most impressive portions of your resume. With the above exceptions, use simple text formatting in your resume: one font size, minimal table usage, no italics, no shadowing, and no graphics. Resumes are often read on a word processing system different than yours, and fancy formatting makes them hard to read and harder to scan. Do not use the automatic bullets in Word; instead, manually type in hyphens. These are more likely to retain their formatting when viewed by a foreign word processor. Give your resume a name in the format: Clinton-Bill-Resume-2009.doc. When the reader of your resume saves the file, it will therefore be easy for him or her to know later what is in that file. Names like Resume.doc, or even worse, Dads Resume.doc, make your readers job much more difficult.

3)

4)

5)

6) 7) 8)

9)

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How to Write a White-Hot Resume and Personal Marketing Plan

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10) 11) 12)

The average reader spends just 10 seconds glancing at your resume. Evaluate: given that fact, what are the ideas/words that pop out? If you have no summary statement, you are positioned by the most recent job on your resume. Ask: is that how you want to be positioned? A resume should answer questions, not ask them. Be careful not to use acronyms and not to leave the reader unclear on your precise history. When readers say, I dont understand what you were doing for 1991-1994, that is your fault and not theirs. Emphasize your brand names. Well-known universities, employers, etc. all carry weight; they should be listed early in the document. Show dont tell. Instead of award-winning senior executive, which is vague, try: Winner of 11 Fragrance Foundation 'Fragrance of The Year Awards' (An industry record) More general advice on resumes is at Teten.com, MBAJungle.com, Vault.com, and wetfeet.com. Good luck!

13) 14)

15) 16)

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How to Write a White-Hot Resume and Personal Marketing Plan

David Teten

How to Write a Personal Marketing Plan

You can make your job search far more efficient by writing a personal marketing plan. This is a document to give to your friends, colleagues, networking contacts, and recruiters to guide them in how to help you in your search. It typically contains a condensed version of your resume, along with details on your areas of focus. In order to give context, it is helpful to attach your full resume to the body of the marketing plan document. Below is a template personal marketing plan. The information shown is a rough guide; you should of course modify the text according to your own background, interests and goals.

Areas of expertise: Leadership: team management, change management, mentoring, recruiting. Finance: business plan development, sophisticated financial modeling, mergers and acquisitions, discounted cash flows, IRR, leveraged buyouts, ratings analyses. Business Development: industry and strategic analysis, sales, presentation skills, negotiations, public relations, promotion, client relationship-building. Experience: (Brief biography) Education:

Location preferences (in roughly descending order of desirability):

Target Functions/Areas Investor (restructuring, venture capital, private equity), Strategy Consultant, Business Developer, Corporate Strategy Manager, Mergers & Acquisitions, Strategic Planner, Venture Capitalist, New Venture Strategy, Turnaround Manager, Assistant to CEO Ideal Organization Parameters High integrity. Academy organizationknown as a training ground for leaders. Blue ribbon management team. Both co-workers and clients are of high caliber. Great mentors. Aggressive

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growth-oriented. Global. Sophisticated. Straight-forward, direct. Learning organization. Internet-enabled. Target Industries and Organizations (roughly descending order of preference) Venture Capital/Private Equity Carlyle Group, Lazard Tech Partner Ventures, KKR, Bain Capital, Corporate VC, Jay Alix, etc. Top Strategy Consultants McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Monitor, Mercer, Roland Berger, etc. Top Investment Banks Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, Bear Stearns, etc. Multinationals with Reputations for Good Training and Mentoring General Electric Group, Microsoft, U.S. Technologies, Johnson & Johnson, etc. Small Technology Company with seasoned management who are good mentors

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